In this post, we will see some of the free on-demand second opinion antivirus scanners which you can use. Some of them are standalone, while some of them, you may need to install. Let us have a look at the standalone virus scanners first.

Free Standalone Antivirus Scanners

Here are some standalone antivirus scanners. You do not need to install them. Simply download the full file and run the scan.

Microsoft Safety Scanner

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool for the Windows user and provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded.

Dr.WEB CureIt

Dr.Web CureIt! is one fine scanner to use when you feel the need for a second opinion. The latest version also scans for rootkits and the BIOS for Bioskits. Its advanced custom scan features allow scanning a computer memory, boot sectors, startup objects, etc. You can get it here. It’s a 109MB download.

ClamWin Portable Free Antivirus

ClamWin is a Free Antivirus program for Microsoft Windows. ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner. You need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware. Get the portable version here.

Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool

Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool is a free portable on-demand software, designed to scan for infected files and malware and disinfect a computer. The application does not provide anti-virus databases update feature. It is an approximately 130MB download. You need to register here first in order to get access to the download link.

Norman Malware Cleaner

Norman Malware Cleaner is another standalone on-demand malware remover that does not need to be installed. It can detect and remove viruses and all other types of malware from your computer. You need to give out your email ID in order to get the download link here.

Metascan Client

Metascan Client is for endpoints running Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Its is a server application for scanning files with multiple antivirus software.

Avira PC Cleaner

Avira PC Cleaner is also another second opinion malware scanner for the Windows operating system.

eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit MWAV

eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV) is a free software that lets you scan and remove detected viruses, spyware, adware, rootkits and any other malware. It is a portable tool that requires no installation.

Sophos Virus Removal Tool

Sophos Virus Removal Tool includes the same security features available in our Sophos Enduser Protection solution – User memory scanning and cleaning, Kernel memory scanning and cleaning and File scanning.

Emsisoft Emergency Kit

Emsisoft Emergency Kit is a free portable anti-malware with dual-engine. This standalone on-demand antivirus scanner consists of four powerful tools.

Most of the standalone on-demand antivirus scanners do not offer automatic updates, you have to download the latest versions manually. eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV) however, allows you to update the definitions only, even though it is portable.

Free On demand antivirus scanners

These on-demand antivirus scanners are not portable apps as is understood – that is, they need to be installed.

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Free

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is a popular on-demand antivirus scanner can detect and remove malware that even the most well-known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Free version, does not, however, include real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating. You can, however, update the program manually.

Windows Defender Offline

Windows Defender Offline Tool is the new name for Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper. The purpose of the offline version is to help start an infected PC and perform an offline on-demand scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware. It can also be used in situations where an antivirus software fails to install the program that is installed is unable to detect or remove malware from the computer.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware

Emsisoft Anti-Malware detects Spyware, Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Bots, Dialers, Adware, Keyloggers and a lot of other destructive pests, which makes it dangerous to surf the web. After installing it, it performs as a full version for 30 days after which it switches to a free on-demand scanner. The freeware mode still allows you to scan and clean infections, but it doesn’t provide any real-time protection to guard against new infections. It includes two scanning engines, the second of which is provided by BitDefender. The dual-scanner is actually much faster and lighter than most single-engine products.

EMCO Malware Destroyer

EMCO Malware Destroyer is yet another free second-opinion antivirus with a high-speed scan engine. It helps you to organize personal malware protection and effectively find and destroy various threats.

There are more!

You might want to also check out herdProtect, a new free cloud-based on-demand, second-opinion malware scanning software for Windows, which is powered by 68 anti-malware engines.

Anand Khanse is the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, a 10-year Microsoft MVP Awardee in Windows (2006-16) & a Windows Insider MVP. Please read the entire post & the comments first, create a System Restore Point before making any changes to your system & be careful about any 3rd-party offers while installing freeware.